Sir Harry Mason Garner (3 November 1891 – 7 August 1977) was a British aerodynamicist who was also notable as an expert on, and collector of, oriental ceramics.

Biography

Garner was one of three boys and a daughter. His eldest brother, William Edward (1889–1960) was born in

Hugglescote Hugglescote is a village on the River Sence in North West Leicestershire, England. The village is about south of the centre of Coalville, and its built-up area is now contiguous with the town. Hugglescote and Donington le Heath were part of t ...

in Leicestershire and became an expert in explosives. His other brother Frederic Horace (1893–1964) became a chemistry professor. Harry was educated at Market Bosworth Grammar School and

St John's College, Cambridge St John's College, formally the College of St John the Evangelist in the University of Cambridge, is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge, founded by the House of Tudor, Tudor matriarch L ...

. He worked for the British government on aerodynamics leading a group at Felixstowe on marine aviation before becoming chief scientist at the

Ministry of Supply The Ministry of Supply (MoS) was a department of the UK government formed on 1 August 1939 by the Ministry of Supply Act 1939 ( 2 & 3 Geo. 6. c. 38) to co-ordinate the supply of equipment to all three British armed forces, headed by the Ministe ...

.Collectors, collections and museums: the field of Chinese ceramics...
Stacey Pierson, p.194, accessed 6 September 2010 Meanwhile, he became a noted expert and collector of oriental art. He started by collecting Chinese

blue and white porcelain "Blue and white pottery" () covers a wide range of white pottery and porcelain decorated underglaze, under the glaze with a blue pigment, generally cobalt(II) oxide, cobalt oxide. The decoration was commonly applied by hand, originally by brush p ...

, and also wrote on Chinese

lacquerware Lacquerware are objects decoratively covered with lacquer. Lacquerware includes small or large containers, tableware, a variety of small objects carried by people, and larger objects such as furniture and even coffins painted with lacquer. Before ...

, especially

carved lacquer Carved lacquer or Qidiao () is a distinctive Chinese form of decorated lacquerware. While lacquer has been used in China for at least 3,000 years, the technique of carving into very thick coatings of it appears to have been developed in the 12 ...

, and published on these and other subjects. In 1954 he recognised the two vases now known as the David Vases as the only fourteenth century blue and white porcelain then known. Garner and his wife made donations of furniture. He was a friend of Sir

Percival David Sir Percival Victor David Ezekiel David, 2nd Baronet (21 July 1892 – 9 October 1964) was a Bombay-born British financier who is best known as a scholar and collector of Chinese ceramics. His collection of Chinese ceramics in the Percival D ...

. Both of these made substantial donations to the

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

. Amongst Garner's collection were the Kakiemon elephants.Kakiemon elephants
British Museum, accessed 6 September 2010

Honours

Harry Garner was appointed CB in the

King's Birthday Honours The Birthday Honours, in some Commonwealth realms, mark the reigning monarch's official birthday in each realm by granting various individuals appointment into national or dynastic orders or the award of decorations and medals. The honours are ...

of 1948 and was knighted KBE in the

New Year Honours The New Year Honours is a part of the British honours system, with New Year's Day, 1 January, being marked by naming new members of orders of chivalry and recipients of other official honours. A number of other Commonwealth realms also mark this ...

of 1951. Sir Harry Garner was the last person knighted by King George VI. He was a Fellow of the

Royal Aeronautical Society The Royal Aeronautical Society, also known as the RAeS, is a British multi-disciplinary professional institution dedicated to the global aerospace community. Founded in 1866, it is the oldest Aeronautics, aeronautical society in the world. Memb ...

References

GARNER, Sir Harry Mason
''Who Was Who'', A & C Black, 1920–2015; online edn, Oxford University Press, 2014
Sir Harry Harner
(obituary), ''The Times'', London, 10 August 1977, page 16 {{DEFAULTSORT:Garner, Harry Mason 1891 births 1977 deaths Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge Aerodynamicists People associated with the British Museum British orientalists 20th-century British ceramists Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Companions of the Order of the Bath Fellows of the Royal Aeronautical Society Historians of East Asian art People from Hugglescote 20th-century ceramists